By T M Romanelli A Story From the Helionox Chronicles After landing in the main hangar and making sure the teams from the other sites were accounted for and safe, Petra went straight to the flight deck. She hadn’t bothered doffing her suit, but she removed the helmet and carried it at her side. The civilian crew, all of whom were mission specialists in various departments, heard the heavy sound…
Read MorePathfinder: Part 2: Looking Glass
By T M Romanelli The main hangar on Pathfinder seemed enormous on the ship’s schematics, but was actually quite cramped as four armored dropships sat in a row with assorted maintenance and fueling equipment positioned nearby on the deck. Three were packed with the drilling gear that would be used on the frozen plateau, in addition to several emergency shelters for the surface teams and all the consumables that would…
Read MorePathfinder – Part 1: Lightning Run
By T M Romanelli The Pathfinder exited the distal end of the supraluminal conduit, its transition back into standard space eased by the stabilizers that had been installed and calibrated prior to the ship’s departure from its base in the Kuiper Belt. The exploration platform had arrived at its programmed destination after executing a series of sub-space transits over the preceding months, and the displacement drive began to power down…
Read MoreConvergence: A Helionox Story
By T. M. Romanelli The final leg of the high velocity transit skimmed the outer magnetosphere of Jupiter, the escalating centripetal forces making the ship’s hull vibrate. The passengers didn’t complain, cocooned in their cryotubes deep within the vessel’s infirmary. Monitors surrounded each station, displaying vital signs and controlling hydrostatic infusions that prevented fatal complications from sustained high-G maneuvers. The flight crew did not have the luxury of cryosleep, but…
Read MoreRules of Engagement
A Helionox Story By T M Romanelli The ancestral estate was sequestered in a pristine valley of central Hokkaido, bordered by the Tokachi range to the north and the lesser Mount Sahoro in the south. At the height of its commercial productivity three centuries before, several large farms produced heirloom lavender that grew thickly in many shades of purple. The farms, automated harvesters and processing sheds were long gone, but…
Read MoreThe Blameless
By Matt DiBiasio “It shouldn’t be this dark” Too stubborn to turn on a light, Brody inched his way across the living room, the contours of the furniture just visible enough for him to make it to the terrarium. Simon’s heat lamp had gone out, two days after he bought it. With a few sharp,frustrated shakes, thankfully, it turned back on. “Look,” Brody addressed the iguana “We can’t afford a…
Read MoreThe Tears of Icarus- Part Seven
Helionox: Tales from the Systems End – The Tears of Icarus Part 7: A New Dawn By T M Romanelli Lysirah dreamed. They had been told about the strange imagery encountered in cryosleep, an effect of altered cortical processes during suspended animation. She found herself moving effortlessly through a deep blue ocean, awash with specks of bioluminescence that were the stars carried on a cosmic current. The horizon was endless,…
Read MoreThe Tears of Icarus- Part Six
Helionox: Tales from the Systems End – The Tears of Icarus Part 6: Deus Aestiva By T M Romanelli The oculus opened and closed so fast that the cycle could hardly be said to have occurred at all, and the superluminal conduit formed by the displacement drive immediately collapsed behind the vessel. The reentry into normal space was violent, dispersing the particles that had accumulated on the leading edge of…
Read MoreThe Tears of Icarus- Part Five
Helionox: Tales from the Systems End – The Tears of Icarus Part 5: Dark Endeavor By T M Romanelli Lysirah quickly led the group through the empty annex and back to the runabout. When everyone was aboard, she stowed the equipment cases and lowered the mesh crew seats from the cabin wall, making sure the team had secured their harnesses properly. Magda sat at the copilot station so she could…
Read MoreThe Tears of Icarus- Part Four
Helionox: Tales from the Systems End – The Tears of Icarus Part 4: In the Shadow of Silence By T M Romanelli Within minutes she had reached the courtyard of the design quad, her programmed landing zone, and touched down smoothly just outside the main building’s elaborate entrance. The engines were throttled back to idle and as the ramp lowered she set the security lock out on the FlightCOM to…
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